Indian Pilot recounts details

Published: Tuesday, January 04, 2000

NEW DELHI, India {AP} A flight attendant had just brought Captain Devi Saran a cup of tea 40 minutes after takeoff from Katmandu, Nepal, when a man wearing a ski mask burst into the cockpit, armed with a grenade and revolver.

"No movement," he ordered, putting the revolver behind the Indian Airlines pilot's right ear.

Soon another masked man came into the cockpit, saluted the first intruder as "chief" and said, "Everything is under control."

Five hijackers had taken over the New Delhi-bound plane.

Saran gave a detailed account Monday of the hijacking and the eight-day crisis that ended Dec. 31 in Afghanistan after India traded three prisoners for the 155 hostages.

Saran said he always considered security lax at Katmandu's airport. "The airport is not even fenced," he said.

During the first 24 hours of the crisis, the plane touched down in four different airports. For most of that time, Saran had a gun to his head.

First, the hijacker "chief" told Saran, 37, to fly to Lahore, Pakistan. But air controllers there denied the plane permission to land.

When Saran told the hijackers he was running low on fuel, they became tense. Upon Saran's suggestion, the hijackers agreed to let the Airbus 300 refuel in the northern Indian city of Amritsar. But they grew restive, threatening to kill some passengers, as airport workers delayed the refueling.

Suspecting that Indian commandos were preparing to storm the plane, the hijackers ordered Saran to take off immediately.